Larger apples tend to have more cells than their smaller counterparts, so Hirst theorized that there was a gene or genes that kept cell division turned on in Grand Gala. Instead, he found that Grand Gala had about the same number of cells as a regular Gala, but those cells were larger.

Maladi and Hirst's original research, published in last month's Journal of Experimental Botany, is available online, at least temporarily.